This is an adapted activity of the
Human Rights Squares to introduce participants to Islam and issues related
to the concept of Political Islam. During this 20-min activity each participant
would find a different person who can answer one question and put his/her
name in the square. The task is to answer as many squares as possible during
the allotted time, and find out which squares need to be elaborated more during
the discussion (brief answers are provided to facilitators on a separate sheet).
The goal of this activity is to help our community to support and reach-out
to the oppressed not the oppressors within the local Muslim community.

What
is the difference between Islam & Islamism; Muslim & Islamist?

1

Quran
and Hadith (Mohamed’ sayings) are the final
references to Muslims in their lives. How?

2

Do Muslims believe in Jesus and Moses?

3

What
are the two major Islamic schools of thought similar to Catholicism
and Protestantism in Christianity?

4

What
are the Shari’a Laws?

5

Did
you ever involve in a deep discussion with a Muslim about Islam?

6

What
is the stance of Islam towards women’s rights?

7

What
is the stance of Islam towards Slavery?

8

What
is the stance of Islam towards GLBT community?

9

Do
you know who finance, and control all the non-African American
mosques in the US?

10

What
is the difference between moderate Islam and Traditional one?

11

Why
progressives are cautious and selective in their support to the Palestinian
resistance against the Israeli occupation?

12

What
is a Fatwa? Who is eligible to issue a Fatwa? Give an example of a Fatwa
that terrorized the world recently

Give
some examples for Religious Apartheid in Islam, Christianity, Hinduism,
and Judaism.

16

Have
you ever attended the Friday Sermon (Khottba)
in the local mosque, especially before Sep 11 attacks?

17

What
is Jihad? Mujahideen? And what is the word Ijtihad
means?

18

Name
a Muslim country where gays enjoy their rights?

19

Could
a child born to Muslim parents choose his/her own religion?

20

Could
a Muslim woman get married to a non-Muslim person?

21

Were
human rights far advanced during Prophet Mohammed

Than current countries ruled by Islamists?

22

Name
a country ruled by Islamic laws while its citizens’ human rights are
not violated.

23

Name
a person who was executed for his Islamic renewal thought in the recent
history (1985)?

24

1)Islam is the religion of 1.2 billion Muslims around the
world. Islamism is just another one bad ism where Islam is being abused by
religious politicians, i.e. Islamists.

2)It is true that the majority of Muslims consider the
holy book Quran and the Hadith (Prophet Mohamed
sayings and acts) are the sole reference in their daily life. A growing number
of Muslim reformists are adding different other non-religious sources.

3)Yes. The holy book Quran, and Prophet Mohamed teachings
considered this a principal part of Islam.

4)SunniSchool, which adopted by the majority of Muslims. ShiiteSchool is adopted by Iran and some minorities in Iraq and Arabian Gulf
states.

5)The Sahri’a law is a general
Islamic legal system yet, it became infamously known
and linked to the Hudoud penal code system reported
by Quran, and which included: Stoning to death for adultery crime; flogging
for drinking alcohol; limb amputation for theft; execution for homicide crimes;
and Qassas (imposing equal harm) for body injury
crimes.

6)The objective of this question to inquire whether participants
know about Islam, especially the controversial issues.

7) Islam clearly states that women are not equal to men.
Islamic Shari’a laws give more rights to men.

8)Islam never prohibited slavery. However, it requires
that slaves should be treated well.

9)Gays and lesbians are condemned in Quran yet; there is
no specific punishment. They are being harshly punished mostly by death in
countries like Iran, Sudan, and Saudi Arabia.

10)Extremely conservative Saudi organizations are the major
financier of the mosques around the world.

11)Moderate Islam was dominant all over the Muslim world
before the rise of Traditional Islam during the Cold War era. The CIA helped
a lot in the rise of most Islamic extremist organizations (e.g. Muslim Brothers)
to combat leftist movements in the Middle East.

12)Progressive organizations especially in the Middle East
should not be thrilled that Islamic resistance movement are joining them to
combat the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories. The agenda of Islamic
Hamas, Jihad, etc are against any democratic regime
after getting rid of the Israeli occupation. The examples they are practicing
in Sudan, Iran are “ideal” ones for their proposed Islamic regime.

13)Fatwa in Islam means religious decree. It has been used
when Muslims face a situation that is not covered by either Quran or Hadith.
They ask one of the clergy people who has more religious knowledge. It is
usually a ruling to be imposed on other people. In the late 1980’s, the spiritual
Iranian leader Khomeini issued a Fatwa stating that the British Muslim writer
Salman Rushdie had committed apostasy by writing
his novel Satanic Verses. He condemned him to death, and asked any Muslim
person to carry out the sentence. The Fatwa was lifted in the late 1990s when
the Islamic reformists won the election.

14)True. It is the rule in any Islamic court system. It
affects women in two areas: Inheritance, and testimony.

15)Because extremists are literally copying Prophet Mohamed
in every thing he had said or done without considering the different circumstances
and time.

16)Religious racism is arrogantly expressed by fanatic Jews
when they think they are the chosen and preferred by God allover other nations;
fanatic Christians who believe they are the only saved people by Jesus; fanatic
Muslims when they believe they are the best nation created by Allah; and fanatic
Hindu when they consider 17% of India’s population are Untouchables.

17) Before Sep 11 attacks, most of the Imams were openly
preaching the ideology of Political Islam.

18) The common use of the word Jihad is to describe a Holy
War, which was the case of the first Muslim wars to conquer other lands and
nations in the seventh century. However, there is another equal use in describing
Jihad as the struggle and effort within oneself against evil forces temptation.
Mujahideen means the warriors who carry out Jihad. Ijtihad
means critical thinking and reading in Quran and Sunna
(Mohamed’s teachings) when you are facing with a difficult situation not mentioned
in Quran or Sunna.

19)None.

20)In both traditional and modern Islam, children have no
rights to choose their religions. They have to adopt their fathers’ religions.

21)Although there is no clear stance in Quran or Hadith yet; all Muslim countries ban Muslim women from getting
married to non-Muslims.

22)It is true that human rights were more advanced and protected
1500 years ago than today. Islam brought basic human rights to women and slaves
at that time which they were never dreamed about. Talking the same standard
on our recent time, we find how awkward Islam has gone.

24)“Mahmoud Mohamed Taha” was
executed at the age of 76 because of his renewal thinking and interpreting
of the holy book Quran. He was hanged publicly on Jan 18th, 1985
in Khartoum, Sudan during the dictator Numeri regime.